My oldest son is about half way through his junior year in high school and so it's about time for him to get serious about looking at colleges. He's a very good student and really excels at math and science, and just about everything academic. Currently, he is a 4.0 student and last time I looked 5th in his class of about 400+. He takes his ACT test this Saturday so I don't have a result on that yet (maybe I should have waited to post this question) but I would expect he'll score above average. I'm sure he'll have no problem getting into a college of his choice, particularly since he doesn't seem to have any interest in most of the elite universities. So that's the background...
And getting closer to the question...
His interests are in video game design and software development. Or at least that what I think it's called. Herein lies part of the issue. I know nothing about this area and haven't been able to provide much help beyond what he could find himself using Google. From what I've heard this is a pretty competitive field, given that every teenage kid seems to like video games these days (except my younger son, who would rather spend the day outside looking at bugs or shooting cans of the fence with his BB gun). One of my concerns is that it'll be hard to find the job he really wants because the demand for these positions is high. I'd love it if his education was broad enough to find another job if the gaming thing didn't work out.
So here's the real question: should he focus on finding a college that has a video game design and development program or simply find a college with a good computer science or software development program? I'm guessing the former could give him a leg up on the competition after graduation but it seems that the latter would give him a broader base for various other types of industries. Or does either one work because they both have enough exposure to computer programming?
He and I have gone on two college visits just to give him a feel for a couple different sized campuses (30,000 students) and mid-sized (about 10,000 students). He seemed to be much more drawn toward the smaller school... and so we could also look at even smaller schools to see how he feels about those. However, at this point it seems that it would be more important for him to narrow his choices down by reputation in his field of interest first. In other words, if he really should be looking at colleges with a video game design program, that starts to really limits his choices.
To further complicate the matter in my mind, he's not much of an extrovert and has expressed interest in staying closer to home. So at this point, he's only been looking at in-state schools. This could actually work out okay for him, since there is one state school that has a video gaming program and there are plenty of schools with comp science or software engineering.
Here's another question to further cloud the issue... if it does make sense to find a college with a video gaming program, how important is it that it's a top-rated school / program? For example, there's an in-state college with a program that seems pretty darn good but doesn't have a well-known reputation... and would cost maybe $16,000 per year. There's also a college with a "top 20 in video gaming" rating in nearby Illinois... annual cost about $50,000. How much does reputation matter for this major??
Sorry for the long intro but I really appreciate any thoughts on this subject, especially from those of you who have experience in this field.
And getting closer to the question...
His interests are in video game design and software development. Or at least that what I think it's called. Herein lies part of the issue. I know nothing about this area and haven't been able to provide much help beyond what he could find himself using Google. From what I've heard this is a pretty competitive field, given that every teenage kid seems to like video games these days (except my younger son, who would rather spend the day outside looking at bugs or shooting cans of the fence with his BB gun). One of my concerns is that it'll be hard to find the job he really wants because the demand for these positions is high. I'd love it if his education was broad enough to find another job if the gaming thing didn't work out.
So here's the real question: should he focus on finding a college that has a video game design and development program or simply find a college with a good computer science or software development program? I'm guessing the former could give him a leg up on the competition after graduation but it seems that the latter would give him a broader base for various other types of industries. Or does either one work because they both have enough exposure to computer programming?
He and I have gone on two college visits just to give him a feel for a couple different sized campuses (30,000 students) and mid-sized (about 10,000 students). He seemed to be much more drawn toward the smaller school... and so we could also look at even smaller schools to see how he feels about those. However, at this point it seems that it would be more important for him to narrow his choices down by reputation in his field of interest first. In other words, if he really should be looking at colleges with a video game design program, that starts to really limits his choices.
To further complicate the matter in my mind, he's not much of an extrovert and has expressed interest in staying closer to home. So at this point, he's only been looking at in-state schools. This could actually work out okay for him, since there is one state school that has a video gaming program and there are plenty of schools with comp science or software engineering.
Here's another question to further cloud the issue... if it does make sense to find a college with a video gaming program, how important is it that it's a top-rated school / program? For example, there's an in-state college with a program that seems pretty darn good but doesn't have a well-known reputation... and would cost maybe $16,000 per year. There's also a college with a "top 20 in video gaming" rating in nearby Illinois... annual cost about $50,000. How much does reputation matter for this major??
Sorry for the long intro but I really appreciate any thoughts on this subject, especially from those of you who have experience in this field.